Family Summer Vacation - Part 1

We returned home last night from our little family getaway. It was really, really great! It was nice to spend the time concentrating on just the 4 of us being together. I took over 250 pictures on this trip. I won't bore you with all of them. But I am sharing alot, so I will be doing a few posts over the next few days, as time allows. Otherwise, it will be one big, fat post and that's just too overwhelming to me at this point.
So we left last Friday night at the boys bedtime (7:30pm). That should have put us rolling into Canon City, CO at 6:30am (since we would lose an hour moving into mountain time). We thought the boys would quickly drift off to sleep since it was bedtime. I remember laughing because at 9pm they were both happily jabbering away. But the happy travels didn't last forever. Lets just say we won't be doing anymore middle of the night driving. If I'm going to be unbuckling my seatbelt every 15 minutes to reinsert a paci (for Pax), then it might as well be 2pm instead of 2am. On the way there, he was a terrible traveler. In his defense, we found out he was poopy at one of our stops (around 1am, I believe). And my guess is that he had been sitting in that poo for 4 hours. Eeek! He drifted off to sleep for several hours after that diaper change. Our bad. I think we made it to Canon City at 6am with a couple of brief stops along the way. And there, our fun began with my sister and her family. We had a relaxing first day at their house and took some naps. Some of us more than others (Jeremy hardly remembers anything about this day, though he had conversations with me and others. He can not recall them.) My sister and I, with her big girls, went to the farmer's market in town, which was fun. All the while, the boys and babies napped at home. We went to church with them on Sunday, where 2 of my boys sported their pink. I had to ask Jeremy's permission to play matchy matchy. He gave me the okay.

We were able to meet their wonderful friends that we've heard so much about. And I know they are more like family to one another. Sunday was the 4th of July and it was lots of fun. Relaxing. We stayed around the house. Loren cooked brawts and burgers. We played outside and enjoyed a nice Colorado summer day. The weather felt amazing for our entire stay! You gotta love Colorado summers!

Paxton enjoyed the company of his cousin, Ava. They shared paci's, beds, diapers and all sorts of things during their week together.

I have no idea why Holden has his tongue out in some of these pictures. Weird. I'm just happy he will look at my camera. Sometimes. When he feels like it. :)

That night the fireworks began. Since we stayed home, we put the babies to bed at their normal time. Now, fireworks are my favorite part of this holiday! Holden started out timid.

Notice Bella holding his onto his arm to comfort him. So blasted sweet!

By the end of the night, he was a brave little boy and held his first sparkler (with daddy's help). Everyone was so proud of him!

And a few other pictures from our time in Canon City:

This is how the kiddos slept. Hopie's eyes are open, but yes she is asleep. :)

Uncle Loren getting some cuddle time from Holden.

Pax pulling up on anything he can get his hands on. In this picture, it's his daddy's leg.

4 little cousins.

Holden was unwilling to participate in this photo. :) This was taken on Tuesday morning. And right after we snapped this photo, Jeremy and I loaded the boys into the car and made a short drive to Colorado Springs where we spent the next leg of our fun getaway. Stay tuned.